Our Stakeholder report to Mali’s Universal Periodic Review, led by Dr Amna Nazir, makes specific recommendations to the government on advancing children’s rights.
Researchers
Consultancy background
In October, the UPR Project at BCU submitted a report to Mali’s fourth cycle UPR, focusing upon child, early and forced marriage. We make recommendations to the Government of Mali on this key issue, implementation of which would see Mali move towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 which aims for “gender equality and empowering all women and girls.”
Download the stakeholder report
On 27 January 2023, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published its Stakeholder Summary Report for Mali, which cited the Stakeholder Report submitted by UPR Project at BCU:
“UPR-BCU indicated that sexual and reproductive health services have been disrupted, having a direct impact on adolescent pregnancy and marriage.” (Para 56)
“According to UPR-BCU, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, girls increased exposure to sexual violence and unwanted pregnancy, and many did not return to education.” (Para 65)
“Several organizations found it regrettable that discriminatory provisions remained in national law, including provisions relating to inheritance and the age of marriage, and that domestic violence had not been established as an offence. They recommended repealing all discriminatory provisions in legislation; harmonizing the 2011 Code of Persons and the Family with the international law, in particular with the CEDAW Convention; and promoting gender equality.” (Para 70)
“Several stakeholders were concerned at the high rate of child marriage in Mali, disproportionately affecting girls. They recommended raising the legal age of marriage for girls to 18 years and continuing efforts to put in place laws prohibiting child marriage. UPR-BCU recommended implement the Multisectoral Strategy for the Abandonment of Child Marriage, and conducting, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, awareness raising and education programmes aimed at addressing the negative implications of child marriage, targeting community and religious leaders.” (Para 75)
The outcome of the review was published on 06 July 2023 in the Report of the Working Group. The following relevant recommendations were made to Mali:
Take effective measures to combat other harmful practices such as early and forced marriage. Recommending State: Spain (135.118); Iceland (135.188); Italy (135.189); Republic of Korea (135.197); Burkina Faso (135.204); Ecuador (135.208); Gambia (135.212); Kenya (135.216); Liechtenstein (135.217); Australia (135.233); Bangladesh (135.237); Costa Rica (135.241); Ghana (135.248); Latvia (135.259); Malawi (135.263)
Ban forced marriages and raise the age of marriage to 18. Recommending state: Congo (135.178); Germany (135.247); Iceland (135.249); Kenya (135.257)
These Member State recommendations are consistent with the categories of recommendations identified in the UPR Project at BCU’s Stakeholder Report for Mali’s UPR.
About the UPR Project at BCU
The Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has been engaging with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) since 2016. Under the auspice of the Human Rights Council, the UPR is an intergovernmental process providing a review of the human rights record of all Member States.
Through the UPR Project at BCU, the CHR we engage with the UPR through taking part in the UPR Pre-sessions, providing capacity building for UPR stakeholders and National Human Rights Institutions, and the filing of stakeholder reports in selected sessions. The UPR Project is designed to help meet the challenges facing the safeguarding of human rights around the world, and to help ensure that UPR recommendations are translated into domestic legal change in member state parliaments.
We fully support the UPR ethos of encouraging the sharing of best practice globally to protect everyone's human rights. The UPR Project at BCU engages with the UPR regularly as a stakeholder, having submitted numerous reports and been cited by the OHCHR.